Ko Tarutao

By: Matt

Slipping through rubber tree plantations at impossible speeds, our driver just smiles and smiles. Thailand is, after all, the Land of Smiles. We had left Ao Nang before the sun had even peaked above the limestone cliffs, groggily stuffing ourselves into a van that would take us down to the port of Pak Bara and then onto a boat to the island of Ko Tarutao. The highway between the two places was well-appointed and, because of this, our driver felt that it was the Thai version of the German Autobahn. Regardless, we made it to Pak Bara in one piece, although having ended up in the back of the van, my stomach and my head felt like they had been littered on the highway.

Bak Para is the main jumping off point for the resort island of Ko Lipe, which is still part of the Ko Tarutao National Marine Park but somehow evaded the development restrictions. As the Lonely Planet guide describes it, "Ko Lipe is the poster-child for overdevelopment." There is a portion of Naomi Klein's excellent book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, that details how resort and development speculators rushed into places like Ko Lipe after the devastating 2005 tsunami and eagerly replaced all of the local fishing towns with their idea of progress. In Ko Lipe's case, real estate developers had coaxed the native inhabitants – what the Thai call chao leh, or 'sea gypsies' – into selling their land at low prices and then sold it again at enormously inflated prices. Most of the chao leh were left out of the prosperity that came to the island, although there are a few exceptions. Needless to say, Ko Lipe was not that appealing to us.

We opted to depart the Ko Lipe ferry at the island of Ko Tarutao, the main island of the National Marine Park that is made up of 51 islands overall. Ko Tarutao is the park headquarters, and there are bungalow accommodations run by the National Park Service. There were very few of us that got off the ferry at Ko Tarutao, which we saw as a good sign.

And, indeed, our first impression of Ko Tarutao was magical. The absence of human-made noise was humbling, and the natural sounds of the beach and the jungle washed over us like the rolling tide of the three kilometer Ao Pantae beach on which we landed. A long concrete promenade greeted us, lined with shady trees and with bungalows set back on either side. The ocean sat across from the promenade and a large open area that felt like an old parade ground.

The bungalow "promenade"

Eating lunch at the canteen.

A wild pig hangs out by the kitchen, hoping for scraps.

After checking in, we settled into our bungalow and then grabbed lunch at the canteen. There are three such canteens on the island, all serving approximately the same things – your choice of some kind of meat/vegetable/rice/noodle combination. Given the relative remoteness and low activity on the island, the food was surprisingly good and cheap. In contrast to the busy hum of activity at our previous locations of Ao Nang and Ko Tao, Ko Tarutao was relaxed and peaceful. I would venture to guess that maybe there were 50 to 100 people staying on the entire island which is a fairly large 152 sq km in area.

It seems that these travel days take a lot out of us, and we slept most of the afternoon in the tropical heat of our bungalow (there is only electricity here from 6pm to midnight ... so no fan until the evening). We forced ourselves to wake up in time for supper, but we were pretty out of it. In the evening we read and went to bed very early.

The next day we were more refreshed and ready to do something active. We decided to rent mountain bikes and go down the road to the other beaches of Ao Molae and Ao Son. There was another ranger station and set of bungalows at Ao Molae, and canteens at both Ao Molae and Ao Son. It was about 8 km all the way down to Ao Son, which was sometimes road and sometimes rough gravel, and all the time hilly. Given that it is sunny and over 90 degrees here, the going was pretty tiring. Along the road, though, we witnessed a symphony of tropical sounds as the birds, monkeys, and insects competed with each other.

When we finally reached Ao Son, we were hoping to see sea turtles, as that is a prime nesting spot for them (and a big reason why this island is conserved and not overrun with all-inclusive resorts). Unfortunately, our timing wasn't quite right to see sea turtles nesting or up on the beach, but we heard that they have been around in more favorable tides. After exploring that beach, we biked up to a trailhead and ditched the bikes and walked about 3 km to a small set of waterfalls called Lu Du. It was a nice trek along the stream, although the marked trail petered out after about a kilometer and the rest was just a scramble along the river rocks.

The rocky beach of Ao Son.

These little sand crabs spent their whole lives digging holes in the sand, making little balls of sand, and then rebuilding when the tides roll in.

Emily at Lu Du Falls.

After the waterfall trek, we biked back to the canteen at Ao Molae for lunch and then the last 4 km to our bungalow. All in all, we had biked 16 kilometers on less than ideal bikes (the ocean air is not kind to them) and hiked another 6 kilometers. All in the midday tropical heat. We were pretty beat! Basically, we threw our bikes next to our bungalow and jumped into the ocean. It felt good, although the beach at Ao Pantae features stingrays and lionfish (which both sting you), so we didn't splash around too much. The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging around the beach and our bungalow. Ahh, the island life...

On Monday, we went for a hike in the morning up Toe-Boo Cliff – which was just a short kilometer up. The view from the top was great, and along the way we were entertained by the Dusky Langur monkeys. Ko Tarutao is teeming with wildlife, and we have seen the aforementioned monkeys, wild pigs, sea eagles, kites, hornbills, macaques, and lizards. Apparently, other animals that we could have caught a glimpse of were sea turtles, sea otters, monitor lizards, and other animals not typical of Bhutan or North America.

Ko Taurtao is not just an interesting wildlife destination, but has an interesting history as well. There is a small, neglected museum that tells the tales. While the Taurtao Archipelago has been featured in historical trade routes since the 1st century CE, its modern history does not begin until 1938 when the Thai government established the island as a penal colony. There were two prisons on the island: one for common criminals and another for political prisoners. The common criminal camp was more dedicated to hard labor, but the political prisoner camp was more leisurely and the prisoners were allowed to wander where they wanted and pursue intellectual activities such as agricultural cultivation and scholarly letters. One of the famous prisoners here was So Setabura, who finished the first Thai-English Dictionary while imprisoned here. The son of King Rama VII (of Thailand) was also imprisoned here, and spent his time experimenting with agriculture. When he was pardoned, he went on to become the Minister of Agriculture. While escape was mostly impossible due to the crocodile and shark infested waters (the Thai Government picked Ko Tarutao for a reason), one famous escapee went on to become the Minister of Education.

If that wasn't enough cool history to write a book in and of itself, the WWII period in Ko Tarutao's history takes the island in a whole other interesting direction. During this time, supplies from the mainland dwindled and hundreds of prisoners died from malaria. To compensate for the lack of supplies, the prisoners and the guards both mutinied and banded together to become pirates. Seriously. The Tarutao Archipelago became infamous during this time for its piracy and was much avoided by supply lines to Pak Bara, Satun in Southern Thailand, and ports in the Strait of Malacca in Northern Malaysia. The prisoner/guard piracy confederation was finally suppressed by the British Navy in 1944, who may have also had some other things to deal with at the time. Eventually, the prison was permanently closed in 1948 (even though it was more like a pirate hideaway from 1940–1944. The island lay mostly dormant until the 1970s when it was declared a National Park by the Thai Government.

Nice topographical map of the islands of the Park.

The prisons still sit, abandoned, on the East side of the island. We could have gone to see them, but we ran out of days since it is kind of a big day trip to get to them (either a 15 km bike ride each way, or a long kayak paddle around the island). The jungles have mostly overtaken them, but the buildings are still there. I was mentioning to Emily that it would be awesome to come back to Ko Tarutao and write an exciting history of its trade, imprisonment, and piracy. I would have to do "research" for at least 6 months, which would involve lots of sitting on the beach ...

The rest of Monday was another fantastic one of lounging, reading, eating, and the like. This is what a true holiday is like for us. Ko Tarutao is a beautiful and peaceful place; relaxed and unassuming. It was a nice change from Ao Nang, even though we enjoyed that place as well. All in all, the West Coast of Thailand is turning into a real winner and Emily and I would not hesitate for a second to return to this magical place.

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